World Hypnotism Day

January 4 is World Hypnosis Day This holiday was introduced in 2006 to commemorate the death of Dr Jack Gibson The famous Irish hypnotherapist devoted almost his entire career to treating psychosomatic disorders using hypnotic influence He died on January 4, 2005, and a year later his colleagues proposed holding an annual holiday, the main purpose of which was to debunk the legends and myths surrounding hypnosis The bad reputation of this technique was created mainly by Hollywood films, which repeatedly show how people under the influence of hypnosis commit crimes and do things that they would never do in ordinary life Professional hypnotists unanimously declare that their technique has nothing to do with “total control over the mind” Hypnosis is a state of maximum focused attention in which the patient becomes open to suggestion When a person is awake, his brain constantly processes large amounts of information, and dozens of thoughts flash through his head every minute Under hypnosis, a person gets rid of unnecessary things and leaves only one single important thought, on which he concentrates all his attention This technique was well known in ancient times Hypnosis was widely used by healers of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, Tibet, India, and China Mystics are firmly convinced that during hypnosis sessions supernatural abilities awaken in patients, but no one has been able to provide evidence of this, so such assumptions remain just weak theories for lovers of the supernatural The Persian scientist Ibn Sina was the first to introduce the terms “self-hypnosis” and “suggestion” In his writings, he noted that a person’s gaze has a certain power that he can learn to control The German doctor Franz Mesmer, who created the theory of animal magnetism, used hypnotic influence as the basis of his technique Mesmer used rather original treatment techniques He believed that all living beings possess certain fluids With their help, people can establish telepathic communication When fluids in the body were distributed unevenly, it caused various diseases Mesmer gathered groups of patients in a closed room and tried to establish telepathic communication with them He “distributed” the healing fluid using a barrel with magnetized nails, which was touched by all participants in the session The mastermind behind the theory of mesmerism believed that in a state of trance a person could prophesy or discover something similar to x-ray vision Mesmer's student Armand de Puysegur discovered that to heal people it is not necessary to touch them A French magnetizer learned to put patients into a state that resembled deep sleep At the same time, he himself was at a distance of at least 30 cm from the subject De Puysegur called the trance state “somnambulism” From his patients in a trance, he tried to find out what could be the cause of the illness with which they turned to the doctor Although the magnetizer made an almost scientific discovery, he continued to believe in fluids and the power of magnetism The Portuguese abbot Faria debunked the myth about the power of magnetism He devoted an entire book to this topic, in which he smashed the mesmerists to smithereens, and gave a scientific explanation to the phenomenon of somnambulism According to Faria, hypnotists bewitched their patients through the power of persuasion and did not use magic or supernatural powers The term “hypnosis” was introduced by another student of Mesmer, Etienne de Couvillers Subsequently, hypnosis began to be used as an alternative to drug anesthesia, and today this technique is widely used in a special medical field - hypnotherapy